Most people reserve seats for convenience, such as legroom or easy access to restrooms. Frequent flyers can reserve a seat as close to the front of the plane as possible to get off the plane faster, says professor and aviation expert Doug Drury.
Air travel is safe
It should be emphasized once again that air traffic is the safest form of transport, an expert working at the Australian School of Engineering and Technology confirms in the CNN article. In 2019, there were just under 70 million flights in the world, in which only 287 people died.
The odds of dying in an airplane are 1 in 205,552, compared to 1 in 102 in a car, according to an analysis of census data by the US National Safety Council.
Despite this, we pay less attention to tragic road accidents, but when we hear about a plane crash, it is the leading story on every news page.
Our interest in plane crashes could be disguised as a desire to understand why they happen or what the chances are that they will happen again. And maybe that’s not a bad thing: our concern ensures that these tragic incidents are thoroughly investigated, which helps keep air travel safe.
In the middle, in the back
It should be remembered that accidents are inherently non-standard. In the 1989 United Flight crash in Sioux City, Iowa, 184 of the 269 people on board survived. Most of the survivors were seated behind first class in the front section of the plane.
However, a Time study that looked at 35 years of aviation accident data found that the average back seat on an airplane had the lowest fatality rate: 28%, compared to 44% for the average aisle seat.
Sitting next to the exit row will always provide the fastest exit in an emergency unless there is a fire on that side. But the airplane’s wings store fuel, so that eliminates the middle exit rows as the safest option.
As for why middle seats are safer than window or aisle seats, it’s because of the “guard” provided by having people on either side.
Some crashes are worse than others
The type of crash will also determine survival. Crashing into a mountain reduces the chances of survival, as was the case in the tragic 1979 disaster in New Zealand. Air New Zealand flight TE901 crashes into the Erebus slope in Antarctica, killing 257 passengers and crew.
Landing in the ocean with a bow – reduces the chances of survival, as evidenced by the 2009 “Air France” flight no. 447 crash that killed 228 passengers and crew.
Pilots are trained to minimize the potential risk in an emergency. They will try not to touch the mountains and look for a flat area like an open field to land as best as possible. Water landings require assessing surface conditions and attempting to land between waves at a normal landing angle.
Aircraft are designed to be very durable in emergency situations. In fact, the main reason the cabin crew reminds us to fasten our seat belts is not the risk of a crash, but the turbulence that can be experienced at any moment at high altitude. It is this weather phenomenon that can cause the greatest damage to passengers and aircraft.
Does the type of aircraft matter?
Of course, there are some variables, such as the effect of airspeed, which can vary slightly between aircraft types. However, the physics of flight are more or less the same in all aircraft.
In general, larger planes will have more structural material and therefore more strength to withstand the pressure at altitude. This means that they can provide additional protection in an emergency, but again this is highly dependent on the extent of the emergency.
This does not mean that you should book your next flight on the biggest plane you can find. Air travel remains very safe. Therefore, experts recommend that you better think about what movie to watch.
